Do you believe in fate
 

Do you think that if something is meant to happen or meant to be that no matter what you do you can't change it, or do you think that life happens as it happens and everything is entirely up to you?

some perhaps can be convinsing so i partially believe

I believe everything happens for a reason. Every decision you make is all part of the big picture. One event leads to another and whether you regret it or not, it's the way it's meant to be.

i dont know

sometimes yes, sometimes no....

I believe in both.

I believe there are infinite possibilities for the past, present and future in existence and by our thoughts, actions, words etc we determine which one we will experience at any given time. Kinda like an episode of Sliders where you can jump timelines instantly ... :upsidedow

I think life is the result of a little bit of both influences... :2 cents:

no, life is completely random - people convince themselves there is Fate because they need to believe in something and are afraid of the fact that there is no rhyme or reason in the universe. You make your own Fate.

Interesting point.

What badmunchkin said.

The mind is the most powerful tool we use.

Yes, I believe in fate!!! :thumbsup

Knock, knock.

No and yes. Yes, there is physical determination (that follows from causality) but no, there is no grand plan or anything behind it.

Yeah I think things that happen to us are meant to teach us lessons so we can make better decisions in the future. I don't think things are random. I think we follow certain paths for certain reasons and of course map out our own destinys that way.

In some things, yes. If you are born with a great gift, then I think that it will most likely determine your path.

A good example of this is my son. He's an excellent writer and has been since the day he could put coherent sentences down on paper, but for some reason he wants to do something with his life other than write, yet the more he tries to veer away.... the more he gets pulled back towards writing.

I'm convinced that someday he will write and publish and be well known as a writer.

Not really.

In certain ways, I believe so. But at the end of the day, it's what you do.

I Do believe that everything that happens happens because of what happened in the past

saying that

I do not believe that a child who grows up a normal childhood can be abusive to a pet

also, I do not believe that a dog that had a loving and caring owner can be a menace to society

having said that, I believe that our actions taken are LIMITED, as in we do not entirely have free will, BUT we do have the free will to reason given face with any situation.

there we have it. Fate? no. Free will? probably not... and only to a certain extent...

i usually believe that everything happens for a reason

I just got into Michigan yesterday afternoon for a month, where are you at?

Not really, I just think there are a lot of coincidences in life that happen for various reasons.

Chance favors the prepared mind.

Where you at in michigan?

pete

I believe in Benjamin Franklin only.

Fenton, 15-20 minutes south of Flint. You?

I don't think either are the case. I think there is a weak determinism running our lives. We have free will within the confines of our genes, memes and environment. Those who are genetically predisposed to being violent aren't going to become gentle people. Those who grew up with dogs as companions are horrified at those who eat dogs and probably could not bring themselves to ever knowingly eat dog. Those who lived 500 years ago could not become astronauts, because that simply wasn't an option.

We are victims of causation, and have limited ability to actually choose our own fate within the confines given to us.

What about the people who have broken those barriers? Like Oprah for example, she was rasied in a poor family, both financially and physically. She was molested and things like that as a child, yet she overcame all that and is now worth billions of dollars.

Still an emotional wreck too.

"Luck is nothing more then when opportunity meets preperation" - Neal Boortz :glugglug

mine was from Louis Pastore.

It's a great quote, and so true.

But somewhere in there, I'm sure it somehow contributed to her drive and ambition which made her a huge success...

She is most likely one of those people who are likely genetically driven to succeed and overcome most any obstacle.

Ah, excellent point. I hadn't though of that.

It's too late for this kind of discussion... Please try again later. Thank you.

:1orglaugh

I believe the bigger things in life (meeting someone, graduation, a job, etc...) can be attributed to fate or a greater force in nature. The smaller things that we don't notice or take for granted I think are not controlled.

WG

HAHAHA, in that case I am expecting a well thought out, well written, detailed response from you first thing tomorrow morning. :)

That makes a lot of sense too. :2 cents:

That position is untenable, because the small events have an impact on the large events, basic chaos theory. What if you paused a moment to look for something before you left your home? If you didn't do that small thing, then you might have been killed in a car wreck.

Very true. This thread has a ton of insightful posts.

I guess it depends on your interpretation of what's considered a small/big event. If something made you late to get into your car and avoid a car accident, that could be seen as a big event still.

By small event, I mostly mean things that you clearly have control over. For example, squint right now. I doubt fate had anything to do with that.

WG

Fate involves believing in some intelligent control over life. I don't believe that, but I am a determinist. I don't like the idea of determinism, but it seems to be true.

"Small" events only appear to be so. We may or may not have control over them. We have no way of knowing, because in order to test it, we would have to be able to time travel, which would be the least of our problems.

Further, Chaos theory dictates that the flick of a butterflie's wing in China can cause a hurrican in the Carribean. With that in mind, there is no such thing as a "small" event.

That's very true, being able to figure out if there is a higher power at work (fate, religion, whatever a person wants to interpret it as) is probably not something that's possible to figure out. But we all have our interpretations :)

WG

of course i do :)

happens only once tho

That sounds pretty interesting, know any good books on Chaos Theory?

What do you mean by that?

The only thing that limits us is our minds, not our genes or our environment.

They simply represent the MOST LIKELY outcomes from infinite possibilities, but we know the possibilities to overcome genetics and environment exist because we see examples of them every day so NOTHING is set in stone.

We are actors who make up our own scripts and direct the action and students who are learning about life 24/7 and everything we do or say or think no matter good or bad big or small contributes positively to that process. :)

That makes me think of two Rush songs.

Limelight - "All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage"

and pretty much all the lyrics from Freewill. :2 cents:

Not really, I just like hanging out around scientists, so some of their knowledge rubs off on me whether I want it to or not.

So genetics play no role in who a person is to become? I'm sorry, but you're disagreeing with what modern biology and psychology are discovering then. We have basic temperments that are genetically determined. Some people are determined to be violent, some are determined to be thoughtful, some are determined to be sluts, etc. Genetics isn't everything, but it is one of the major players.

While for the most part I agree with you on the genetics stance, I don't agree 100%. I think that anyone, regardless of their background, can do pretty much anything they want. I know of people who came from extremely wealthy and privelaged families and ended up in prison or on the streets or whatever, and I know of people who came from nothing, with all odds stacked against them, who made millions of dollars and are real success stories. :2 cents:

Rush fan? My all time favorite band!

All preordained? A prisoner in Chains.
A victim of venemous fate